Celtics vs. Hawks - Games 1&2 Collected Thoughts

I was fired up enough for the playoffs this year that I promised myself I would write at least a brief recap after every Celtics game. Of course in keeping with the history of this blog, I failed to write anything after the disheartening game-one loss putting me in an early hole. And now I'm completely frustrated after the debacle in game two, and I'm sleepy. And cranky. Here, then, are some quick-hit collected thoughts from games one and two, in no particular order.

• It seemed both teams, despite having clear areas of concern, could leave game one feeling good about things. Boston managed to have a real chance at a win despite the abysmal first half, while Atlanta could counter that it earned a close win in a game when several of its best shooters shot terribly. The C's could note that Atlanta killed them on the offensive glass -- which is not a strength and something that isn't likely to repeat, while the Hawks could point out that they won despite a poor second half when Boston forced a number of careless turnovers. It all pointed to a series with two even teams that figured to be tight throughout. Then game two happened, and I'm not sure where the Celtics can find a silver lining. Between the injuries to Bradley and Olynyk and the seeming inability to execute a functioning NBA offense, I'm just not sure what the path forward is, especially offensively. I guess this time the silver lining would be that Boston isn't going to shoot THIS poorly again, and that after the terrible first six minutes it was essentially an even game. Thus far, Atlanta's defense has been the story, and they seem to have completely disrupted what the Celtics want to do offensively.
• In a similar vein, with the makeup of this team, I don't see any way Boston wins this series if Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder don't play really well. They were both much less than that in these two games. Thomas looks flummoxed offensively and I thought Crowder was our worst player (or at least our worst player who we expect to actually be good) in game one. He has shot terribly, isn't attacking the basket enough and when he does he can't finish, and worse really struggled defensively in game one. Not sure if he is still not feeling 100-percent after his injury, but he doesn't look right, and he's too critical a player to be this bad.
• I love Thomas' attitude and swagger, and he said all the right things going into this series about how great players prove themselves in the playoffs. But this series, and going back to the Cleveland series last year, is demonstrating why you might not be able to rely on him as a true number-one guy. Against good defenses when teams have time to prepare and game plan, his lack of size is a real problem. Hopefully he is rejuvenated at home, but there has not been much encouraging thus far. He really needs to live at the foul line.
• The narrative that Marcus Smart needed to step up in Bradley's absence worried me coming into the game, and Marcus promptly showed why. He's just too excitable and erratic to be relied to step up his game offensively, in my opinion, and I think with his temperament the worst thing for him is when he is a focal point because he tries to do too much. He is just not that guy at this stage of his career, and asking him to do more brings out his worst tendencies.
• That said, I think my favorite play of game one was the late steal he made when he sprang up and picked off a seemingly harmless Teague pass and then scored on the follow-up at the other end. Players make passes like that all the time and there are maybe a handful of players in the league that have the athleticism and tenacity to pick that pass off. Marcus is an incredibly impactful defender and it's so much fun seeing the few times per game when he does things few other players can do.
• I love Brad Stevens more than maybe anyone other than his immediate family at this point (see the blog title) but some of the blame for these horrific starts have to be put on the coaches. The team looked absolutely clueless and confused offensively and defensively at the start in both these games, and while maybe you can blame it on jitters in game one, there's not excuse for it in game two. Teams have more time to prepare for playoff games than they do any other games all year, and it's just unacceptable to have two starts like this when Boston looked completely unprepared for what Atlanta was doing.
• I will now follow that criticism by saying it made my heart sing to hear Jon Barry repeatedly refer to Brad as a genius in game one after we had open look after open look on inbounds plays. I'm trying to figure out a way to get the audio of Brad being called a genius as my ring tone.
• There is no doubt not having Avery Bradley -- probably our best defender and shooter -- is painful, but I think not having Olynyk might be more problematic in this series. This is aping a point I saw Zach Lowe make on twitter during the game, but our spacing is brutal right now, and having Kelly (or Snoogins as this blog affectionately calls him) helping draw a big out of the paint would really help. Obviously Avery would help the spacing as well in comparison to someone like Smart, but there are just too many big bodies in the lane and it's killing our offense, Isaiah especially. The announcers can scream over and over about how we have to stop shooting so many 3s and attack the basket but it doesn't look like there is any room in there, and I don't know what the solution is.
• As much as we are struggling offensively, and considering the mobility of Atlanta's bigs, I think I would prefer more Zeller to Sullinger the rest of the series. Though he doesn't really help the spacing issue, I think he bring more different things to the table offensively than does Sully.

That's all I have. Here's hoping a return home on Friday sparks the offense and gets us back in this thing.

Missing Rondo

After essentially a year since my last post, welcome back to Brad's Fanboy, the go-to spot for the least-timely Celtics analysis on the internetz. It's also the place to find a blogger who is well-meaning, but whose productivity can generously be described as erratic. All that said, my New Year's resolution was to write more, both professionally and personally, and what better place to start than trying to sort through my many complicated feelings about the trade of Rondo.

Man, I'm going to miss watching Rondo play.

I suppose my real "analysis" should be a bit more in-depth than that, but in the end my feelings on the trade, or the general direction of the team get swallowed up by the pleasure that came from watching Rondo throw ridiculous passes at impossible angles to guys who never knew they were open.

I fancy myself an intelligent observer of sports, one who can put aside his feelings as a fan, and be realistic about the members of my favorite team. So yes, I recognize that having a point guard with an inconsistent jump shot and who at times played as though he was afraid to get fouled due to his poor free throw shooting is an issue. Or that at times he seemed disinterested and loafed on defense. Or even that he sometimes passed up scoring chances for the possibility of padding his assist totals. Are all those things true to some extent or another? Probably. Does all the incredible things he can do on the court outweigh those negatives and make him a player who can be the cornerstone of a franchise; or is he only great as a complimentary piece when he can set-up other stars? I honestly have no idea.

All I know for sure is that I am going to miss watching Rondo play.

With this player, that ability to be rational and make honest assessments about value and flaws goes out the window. He was unlike any player I've ever seen with the variety and oddities of his game. It was more than the absurd passes, though that was the trademark and the thing that brought the most joy. It was his remarkable rebounding ability for a guard, or the way he used angles and spin when tossing shots off the back board. Nothing was ever conventional. The West Wing taught me that something can't be "very unique," it is simply unique. That was Rondo.

Though my basketball teammates over the years might find this hard to believe (I'm looking at you, Hayden) as a basketball fan I love great passes maybe even more than great scoring, and I particularly prefer a point guard whose instincts are to create rather than score. Rondo isn't the only guard in the Association for whom that applies, but I don't think any does it with the flair and entertainment value Rondo provides. He's the only basketball player I can recall who consistently made me laugh out loud as he pulled off some ludicrous play. My wife would always know Rondo had done something outlandish when she would hear me giggling during a game. Not many professional athletes make me giggle.

I understand the reasons it was probably time to trade him away, and why the package in return seemed underwhelming. The non-emotional fan part reads all the smart writers who can offer more in-depth insight into trade offers and the like (this is the part where I would usually link to a Zach Lowe column, but I fear my love of Zach and his work might eventually lead to some type of restraining order, so I'm holding back). That rationale thinking and acceptance does not diminish the sadness at him no longer being on my team. Losing Ray and trading away The Captain and KG was hard too. The winning was obviously the greatest joy from that group, and each of those guys was also extremely fun to watch in their own way.

But Rondo was different. All the logical thoughts about why it was right to trade him and that ultimately it is good for the team isn't what it's about for me. This is about losing a chance to regularly watch a player who you never knew how he might entertain you. And damn, I was really, really entertained.

Assorted Thoughts

I'm off to a tremendous pace of roughly a post per month, so I'm due to weigh in on a few topics. Perhaps it will also get my creative juices flowing and help me finish the story I'm trying to write for my actual job. Let's proceed with the bullet points, shall we.

• RONDO!
• In more detail, RONDO, RONDO, RONDO, RONDO!
• As I said, his Rondoness is scheduled to return to the court on Friday night against the Lakers. Though he is expected to play limited minutes, color me intrigued to see what he does as the focal point of the team's offense. Since his rookie year, his job was primarily to serve as a playmaker, with others drawing more defensive attention. There were always flashes of what he might be capable of doing if given a more substantial offensive burden, but that was never really what he was asked to do. In my mind, it is impossible to predict how he will do in a situation where the offensive players around him are far more limited, and where he may be counted to score more consistently. What he shows over the rest of this regular season may go a long way to determine if he will be a key piece in the team Danny Ainge is trying to build, or a piece that will be traded elsewhere to aide in that building. As I said, color me intrigued.
• If nothing else, having Rondo back should raise the entertainment level of the 2013-14 Celtics. It might not be as easy when the no-look passes are aimed at Kris Humphries or Jerryd Bayless, but Rondo was usually good for at least one play per game so audacious that I would actually LOL. I'm looking forward to having that element back in the mix. I put the over/under at the number of passes that surprise and/or rocket off the hands of an unsuspecting teammate at 2.5 in his return.
• It cannot be proven because I failed to actually post it, but the addition of Bayless suggested to me that Jordan Crawford would not be long for the Green and White. Though Crawford seems to possess more play-making skills than Bayless, Jerryd also seems to be able to create his own shot, something the team sorely lacks. It seemed clear that their games are redundant enough that it was time to send Mr. Crawford on his way, and while obviously getting a guaranteed first-round pick would have been preferable, it's hard to quibble too much with getting anything back for a guy that exceeded expectations.
• Had I written a game-report on Monday's loss to the Rockets, I would have said it felt like the fourth quarter of that game served as a microcosm of the season as a whole. Bayless catches fire, sparking a spirited comeback that falls short. They employed what seemed to be sound strategy in fouling Howard, but he did just enough at the line to keep the wolves at bay. It seems like someone has been able to step up offensively each game, but with very little consistency. Just enough misses, just enough mistakes, and suddenly its a nine-game losing streak. Thankfully it came to an end against Toronto, but it feels like there are going to be more games like Houston than the Raps game in the future.

Game Report - 12/18/13

Some brief and very delayed thoughts on a disappointing loss in a very winnable game. I was not able to give most of my attention to this game, as I was unreasonably expected to pay attention to my 4-month old child, so I will offer just two bullets on items that came at the end of the game.

• It seems a strange time to mention it, considering Brandon Jennings went off with one of the best games of his career, but I love watching Avery Bradley play defense. It seems to me that there are at least two occasions each game where he manages to completely blow up an offensive set or play, simply by not letting the ball handler get where he wants to go. Kudos to Jennings who hit a ridiculously tough three with 46 seconds left to give Detroit the lead -- but that was stellar defense from Avery that led to the tough shot. He then managed to give Boston one final chance at a win by stealing Jennings' lunch and smothering him on Detroit's final possession. The enticing thing to me about Bradley is that as he continues to build a reputation as an elite defender, I believe he will get a greater benefit of the doubt from the officials. I'm not sure it's really possible to be a lockdown defender in today's NBA with the rules, and how many offenses are built on dribble penetration from guards and setting picks for the ball handler, but he gives the C's a weapon few teams can match.
• Bradley gave the team a final chance, one that the team promptly squandered. Starting with the final play, I don't mind an isolation for Green with that little time left, as one of the few guys capable of creating his own shot. Yet Josh Smith is a high-level defender and maybe not the match-up to attack in that situation. If that sounds like a criticism of The New Wooden, let me quickly praise his sense to call a time out with five seconds left as the first option -- a post-up for Brandon Bass -- looked like it was leading to absolutely nothing. Seems like some teams might be reluctant to pull the plug as that unfolded, but calling a TO and resetting was the right call.

Snoogins Or Mitchy

In my 12/16 game report I noted that Kelly Olynyk will be Snoogins for the purposes of this blog, because of his uncanny resemblance to Jay from the Jay and Silent Bob movies. In the comments, noted basketball blogger H.S. Slam, Phd, suggested he bares a far greater resemblance to Mitch Kramer from the wonderful Dazed and Confused.

I'm not sure how I can put this more strongly, but that is absolute nonsense. Obviously the long stringy hair is a trait common to all three gentlemen, but beyond that, Olynyk looks far more like Jay (or actor Jason Mewes) than young Kramer. Below, see the evidence for yourself.

I think this speaks for itself.

Game Report - 12/16/13

Here begins what hopefully will be a recurring feature on the blog, as I offer a collection of thoughts from a Celtics' victory. I will also try to do this on occasion after a loss, but clearly those will be few and far between with The New Wooden (copyright pending) on the bench.

I'm not a talented enough writer, or skilled enough observer of basketball to provide any coherent theme on a given contest. At least I don't think I am -- but if inspiration strikes I will give it a shot. Generally these will just be random observations. In this case, I observed Boston hang on for a win over Minnesota on the strength of a sturdy fourth quarter for Jared Sullinger and some mediocre shooting from Los Lobos.

• Starting with Sullinger, he had another strong all-around game, including burying a huge three late in the fourth. I'm curious to see if teams start throwing different defensive looks at him -- doubling in the post, playing him to pop on pick-and-rolls, etc. -- now that he clearly has become at least our 1A offensive option.
• I'm stunned to type these words, but I've really enjoyed what Kris Humphries has provided this year. He seems like a player who knows exactly what he is capable of doing, and doesn't try to do anything beyond that. Given our rebounding struggles both in the last few seasons and this year, I wouldn't object to seeing him get a little more time to try and enhance the team's work on the boards.
• I admit to being stunned by the development of Jordan Crawford and Avery Bradley as the starting back court. Similarly I admit that despite how well they've played, I still don't feel comfortable when Bradley is firing up jumpers, and Crawford is running the show. Too much history of seeing both of them fail in those areas to totally relax with it now. Give me a few more weeks.
• I've seen a few prominent Celtics fans applaud The New Wooden's ability to draw up set plays out of timeouts, so I was specifically looking for it in this game. As promised, there were at least two instances of plays that provided wide open shots coming out of dead ball situations. My love for this man knows no bounds.
• My good friend H.S. Slam, Phd. recently gchatted to me his growing disfavor with Kelly Olynyk. I don't think I've completely hopped off his bandwagon yet, but I watched him a bit more closely in this contest, and I am starting to wonder what exactly his NBA skills are. He knocked down a pair of open triples in the game but his release is quite slow. This certainly merits watching, but would hate to whiff on a pick we traded up to get. This does give me the chance to announced the first official Brad's Fanboy nickname which is that Kelly Olynyk will now be referred to as "Snoogins" because of his uncanny resemblance to Jay from the Jay and Silent Bob films.
• Dante Cunningham had a strong game off the bench for the Wolves, but I can't watch him play without recalling that the aforementioned Dr. Slam and I once had an off-color joke about his name and self-gratification.
• Finally, as much of the talk this season is geared towards building towards the future, it is fun to speculate and dream when we play a team with a superstar that at least gets mentioned from time-to-time in trade rumors. I don't claim to have any idea as to how Kevin Love could end up on the Celtics, but he's a wildly entertaining player that could be a cornerstone of a championship contender with some other good pieces around him. Could Boston's next championship team again be sparked by trading for a 'Sota star?

Detroit is the next lamb on Wednesday as the team slowly inches towards the .500 mark.

Boston 3-Party Era Memorable Game #10

Now on my second post without really talking about this year's Celtics team (and BRAD STEVENS). I missed the Spurs game on Wednesday night, and hopefully will be able to watch the likely bloodletting against the Pacers this evening and coming up with some thoughts.

In the meantime, ever since the spiritual father of this blog signed off and mentioned the possibility of a top-10 memorable games of the KG-era, I've been putting together my own list in my head. What better time to begin bringing that list from my head to the internetz than a Friday afternoon when I should be working. We will check back in with this from time-to-time, mostly the times when I can't think of anything interesting to say about the current hoops season.

Without further delay, we begin the countdown with the 10th most memorable game.

#10 vs. Denver Nuggest, 11/17/2007
How is the third regular season game after the team's offseason overhaul before the 2007-08 season the 10th most memorable of this epic six-season run? In this case, for decidedly personal reasons. The additions of KG, Ray, etc. during the summer certainly renewed my interest in the team, but I assumed my fandom would consist of checking out the team on the many occasions they were featured on national TV (or when they played either the Knicks or Nets, as I was living in New Jersey and could watch all their games).

I spent the early portion of this Nuggets contest having a very spirited g-chat with aforementioned H.S. Slam, Phd. He was enjoying the early stages of this game so much, that he urged me to splurge and purchase the NBA League Pass, allowing me to follow the season all year. At the time I was not making much money and living in a fairly pricey town in an apartment I really couldn't afford. All that took a backseat at the repeated urging of my friend, and by halftime the good people at Cablevision were adding more than $200 to my bill.

I did not regret that decision either that night, or for the rest of the season. What stood out about that game (and the season in general) was the beautiful way that first edition of this Celtics era moved the ball. The defense got most of the attention during the Championship run, but that was the best offense the team featured during this stretch. Despite having talented offensive players, this team was never a particularly potent offensive squad, but its peak was year one when Boston ranked 10th in the League in points per possession.

It seemed every player on the team had been infected with KG's selflessness, and every player on the floor looked for the open man and made the extra pass (or the RIGHT pass, as Jay Bilas often notes). It was beautiful basketball to watch, and IMO was never quite the same as that first season.

On this night, that passing absolutely pummeled the Nuggets in the first half, building a 39-point lead going into halftime. For me, I was now completely all in, making this otherwise meaningless regular season contest the 10th-most memorable game of this era.